JAMES COTTON BLUES BAND
35th Anniversary Jam (Telarc Blues)
Reviewed by Eric Steiner

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I can't think of a better way to celebrate a bluesman's life in the blues than to hold a jam session. James Cotton has done that with his band on the 35th Anniversary Jam CD that celebrates 35 years of the James Cotton Blues Band. He's got quite a line-up of guests too, including Ronnie Hawkins, Tab Benoit, Shemekia Copeland and Koko Taylor. Cotton's been around the blues block, and his career reads like a journey through a pre-war and post-war blues history. He started out in the late 1940's behind Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller) and then moved over to Howlin' Wolf and Willie Nix in Memphis, Tennessee, in the 50's. The King Bee himself, Muddy Waters, recruited him for his band in 1954 - one gig that lasted 12 years on the road and in the studio until James struck out on his own as a solo player. Those dozen years with Muddy brought James to the fabled Chess Studios, where Muddy recorded some of his best-known post-war blues. Since then, he's been a mainstay at blues and rock festivals, and The 35th Anniversary Jam features mostly original songs, but James starts with Kenny Neal on Sonny Boy's "Don't Start Me To Talking" that brings us right back to Cotton's roots in Tunica, Mississippi. The harpmaster and Jimmie Vaughan honor John Lee Hooker's memory on "Blues for the Hook," and Koko Taylor's at her blues shouter best on "I've Got A Feeling." Let's toast James Cotton and his band for 35 great years in the blues. What makes his career all the more remarkable is that this disc celebrates his band for the last three and a half decades, not counting his groundbreaking work with the Wolf and Muddy in the formative post-war blues years. For fans of traditional blues, it doesn't get much better than this.

Track List:

Don't Start Me Talking * The Creeper * I've Got a Feeling * Cotton Crop Blues * Fatuation * How Long Can a Fool Go Wrong? * Rocket 88 * Blues in My Sleep * River's Invitation * All Walks of Life * Hold Me Baby * Blues for the Hook

© 2002 - Eric Steiner